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Posted by admin in Pakistan-A Nation of Hope on February 6th, 2014
The prime and foremost priority of this Government & the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is to sell all profit making assets of the country to their frontman’s as soon as possible. Matters with Taliban will continue to linger on in its present state.
ISLAMABAD:
The Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PMLN) has failed to take a decision on how to deal with the Tehreeke Taliban Pakistan (TTP) even though a sizeable majority in the ruling party is in favour of a military operation.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif convened a meeting of PMLN’s parliamentary party on Monday just before the National Assembly session to get feedback from his party’s lawmakers. However, the meeting could not decide between a decisive military operation against the Taliban or initiating another effort to engage them in talks.
“A majority of our lawmakers favoured going for a military operation. But some of them also said the doors to dialogue should remain open. No formal decision has been taken yet,” Mohsin Ranjha, the parliamentary secretary for the information ministry, told reporters after the meeting.
“Without eliminating extremism, we cannot place Pakistan on the path of development. We will take every step to restore peace in the country. Officers and soldiers of our armed forces are laying down their lives and their blood will not go in vain,” an official handout quoted the prime minister as saying.
The government’s vacillation incensed the opposition as did the prime minister’s absence from the National Assembly, where he was expected to give a policy statement in the house.
In his absence, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan tried to cajole the enraged opposition with a lengthy speech. However, his declamation could not pacify them.
The opposition parties unanimously demanded a timely decision in the wake of the recent attacks on the security forces and the deteriorating law and order situation.
Addressing their concerns, Nisar said the premier did not attend Monday’s session deliberately because more deliberation was needed before announcing a policy statement. He also came down hard on the main opposition party, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), for ‘unduly’ criticising the government on not taking any decision so far. “Why did you not start a military operation or sit for talks with the TTP during your fiveyear term,” Nisar said addressing Opposition Leader Syed Khursheed Shah.
The interior minister informed the lawmakers that the government has once again started consulting all stakeholders on both options – negotiation or military operation. “Both choices are tough because the rival is not a visible force or party. We will take briefings from all intelligence agencies of the country, we have already met the military leadership and we will discuss the options with the country’s political leadership too,” he added.
Earlier, Khursheed Shah said the parliamentarians were looking forward to the prime minister’s policy statement, as that would have provided the nation some hope, but the premier preferred to stay away.
“The prime minister should have attended this session, which was convened after a long delay. These are defining moments [of history] and all eyes are on the leadership and the prime minister who have to play their part,” Shah said. “We want to support him on this national issue,” he added.
Pakistan TehreekeInsaf Chairman Imran Khan also criticised the premier, saying that the country was facing a leadership crisis. The prime minister paid several visits to other countries but it seemed like internal peace was not his priority, he said.
Imran reiterated that all political parties must be taken into confidence on what the next steps of the government would be. “Let me make one thing clear: we are not proTaliban. We want the QuaideAzam’s Pakistan because we are followers of Allama Iqbal. We support negotiation process with the Taliban for the same reasons,” he explained.
Moreover, that was the consensus after all four all parties’ conferences anyway, the PTI chief added. “In case we wage war, have we calculated the damage and the retaliation, which was why we did not conduct an operation in Waziristan earlier,” he asked, quoting former spy chief Shuja Pasha’s briefing to the APC.
Meanwhile, other parliamentarians, including MQM’s Dr Farooq Sattar and AML’s Sheikh Rasheed, also pressed the government to take a policy decision – and fast.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 28th, 2014.
Posted by admin in Pakistan-A Nation of Hope on February 5th, 2014
US President Harry S Truman kept a sign at his desk which said, ‘The buck stops here’. The idea behind the sign and the phrase is really simple, namely that there is one individual atop of the government who has to make decisions and accept responsibility for them. It does not mean micromanaging; it just signifies a sense of moral responsibility and seriousness. One cannot be certain of what sign, if any, is on the desk of Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif. An appropriate one would, however, be ‘This is not my problem’, since this is Mian Sahib’s approach and answer to most questions. Mian Sahib is on a leave of absence and meanwhile, the ‘buck’ is in perpetual circular rotation.
The question of talks or not is an ideological one. However, once the decision is made, as in the present case of conducting talks, then the federal government in general and Mian Sahib in particular, should hold the baton and accept both the potential success and failure of the strategy. The prime minister has no intention of doing that. The formation of a committee is all warm and fuzzy and gives the impression of doing something; however, that is all it is, giving the impression, etc. Whereas much can be said about the composition of the committee and the individuals selected, one can leave it to those who know these individuals better. However, one general principle seems to have been very deliberately compromised, namely representation.
Talks, everybody now agrees are the ‘solution’. Very well, yet, it might be useful to remind ourselves of what the ‘problem’ is. It is a conflict between the ‘State’ and ‘Non- state’ actors. Where exactly is the ‘State’ in this committee? It is not only that the other party to the negotiations might not take the committee in the present form seriously. More significantly, the prime minister, the government and perhaps, the state is now just afraid. Afraid, of course, of armed adversaries, however even more, afraid of ‘failure’.
That is what it is; Mian Sahib is so afraid of failure, of taking the wrong decisions, that he has made the decision of making no decisions. If there are to be negotiations, they have to be led by the federal government and the composition of the committee should represent that. Death by inaction is what stares us plainly in the face.
Mian Nawaz Sharif was a businessman before he was a politician. Mian Shahbaz Sharif is nothing, if not a very good administrator/manager. Mian Shahbaz Sharif runs a province through the bureaucracy (side point, hence there are very poor betting odds for any civil service reform or even talk of it) and technocrats and has little patience for public representatives or the tedium of dealing with the provincial assembly, etc. The ‘Sharif doctrine’ is to delegate it to someone else, to get rid of the problem by making it someone else’s problem, to bring in the experts, basically do anything except do something yourself. Above all, the ‘Sharif doctrine’ is to privatise; to privatise not only the airlines and Railways, but national security, even the very existence of the State itself. Alas, if only peace was as easy as engaging the right consultants or shall we say, contractors for the task. Conflicts require leaders, which are bit more than corporate managers.
The PML-N went to the elections on a non-ideological campaign. The promise was never any higher principle or rights, it was efficiency. Let us for the moment, defer comment on how efficiently the State is being run (or perhaps, it is a rhetorical question to begin with). However, there is a spectacular confusion on efficiency and the perception of it. The PML-N knows marketing and the value of optics. However, the campaign season is over; and Mian Sahib now finds himself with a c
ountry to run and the country can’t seem to find Mian Sahib. The answer to the question of militancy lies not in the selection process of a dream team of master negotiators. It lies in having the nerve to make tough choices and sticking by the consequences. Balochistan will not become an island of tranquillity and peace by metro buses and motorways. The power crisis or circular debt will not go away by finding the right whizz tycoons to take care of the matter. All of this requires serious policymaking and owning up to the consequences of these policies. Don’t hold your breath for that to happen anytime soon.
Exhibit A is Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. The interior minister may look all business and no nonsense. Yet, the fact of the matter remains, that a counterterrorism policy was promised and was supposed to be delivered long ago, and it has not. There is no good reason for Chaudhry Nisar Ali not to be a part of the negotiating team. He is in charge of law and order, and this is what the committee seeks to address. Additionally, he will have some explaining to do if they fail, unlike the present members of the committee, who will if God forbid all of this fails, can and will shrug their shoulders and go home. Freelance experts are not going to get us through this.
The prime minister and the PML-N are the most pronounced examples of inertia and governance without accountability. However, on the question of talks, while most agree that there should be talks, none appear willing to volunteer themselves for the task. Mr Imran Khan should offer to help. Perhaps, publicly insist on being part of the negotiation process and ask for specific powers and authority to conduct these negotiations. The catch here is, if Mr Khan does that, then he accepts the consequences of whatever happens when the talks are over. Mr Khan does not want that. He wants to be the bystander critic. He is in for tough competition, since it seems we have a bystander prime minister to match.
Mr Prime Minister, come back to your job, all is forgiven. The people of this country voted for you to be a leader and it is only reasonable to expect that you at least try.
Courtesy:
Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2014.
Posted by admin in NAWAZ SHARIF FAMILY TURPITUDE on November 14th, 2013
Will there be justice?
“In August 2008 the reopening by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of the corruption cases about Hudaibiya Paper Mills, Ittefaq Foundry and Raiwind assets meant that the entire Sharif family was in the dock. There are three cases against the Sharif brothers and their families, which do not fall under the ambit of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), as all these were established after 1999. The cases were registered in 2000. Nine persons were nominated in the Hudaibiya paper mills case. They are late Mian Muhammad Sharif, Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, widow of Mian Muhammad Sharif, Mian Abbas Sharif, Hussain Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz, Shamim Akhtar, Sabiha Abbas wife of Mian Abbas Sharif and Mariam Safdar. In the case of Hudabiya Sugar Mills, the charge is of money laundering to the tune of over Rs600 million whereas in the case against Ittefaq Foundry, the directors are accused of bank loans default involving a total sum of Rs1.6 billion.”
Email From A Member Pakistan Think TankSubject: Sharif Family SagaFrom: Payja <Gowalmandi>Date: 3 October 2013 14:00:19 GMT+5
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Fwd: Sharif FamilyPakistan’s political system is broken: its political parties are ineffective, functioning for decades as instruments of two families, the Bhuttos and the Sharifs, two clans, both corrupt. The Bhutto-Zardari axis may be considered “left leaning,” while the Sharif brothers may be considered “right leaning.” The Sharifs are much closer to Pakistan’s military, and to Pakistan’s Muslim fundamentalists. Punjabi, the Sharifs represent Pakistan’s major ethnic bloc, and the devout Sunni Sharif has an advantage over the Bhuttos, who have Shiite ties.In 1968, Dr Mahbubul Haq spoke of 22 families that controlled 68 percent of Pakistan’s industrial assets, 86 percent of banking assets and many other sources of income generation. Almost all the big business groups of the 1970s had started in 1947 as family joint ventures.Mian Sharif and his six brothers set up an iron-melting furnace in Landa Bazaar and in 1967-68 expanded the business with his brothers. Later, he set up the Ittefaq Mills in the Shahara area. He went on to set up the Ittefaq Group of Companies and more than half a dozen factories and sugar mills across the Punjab, rising to fame in Pakistan’s business circles.Mian Sharif’s business faced a serious setback during the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s regime, as the government nationalised his industrial units and took over the Ittefaq Foundry. In 1972, when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto nationalized the Ittefaq Foundry, the heart of the Sharif family’s industrial empire, this set the Sharif family back considerably. The Sharifs disappeared from public eye and tried doing business in the West Asia. Mian Sharif founded the Sharif Group of Industries in 1974 after the nationalisation of the Ittefaq Foundry on the orders of prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.In 1981, the family returned with a bang, and shot up to power. When Gen Ziaul Haq deposed Zulfikar Bhutto and took over as the chief martial law administrator, Mian Sharif and his three sons returned to Pakistan and managed to get the Ittefaq Foundry back from the government. In 1978, General Ziaul Haq handed over Ittefaq Foundry to the Sharifs of Lahore without inviting any bids. In fact, two other nationalised units, Nowshera Engineering in the NWFP and Hilal Ghee in Multan, were handed over to their original owners. Mian Sharif also developed friendly relations with Gen Zia and became one of the general’s most trusted men. In 1983, General Ziaul Haq inducted Nawaz Sharif into the Punjab provincial cabinet as finance minister.During the rule of Nawaz Sharif, the Gidani beach was the largest ship breaking industry in the world, providing more than $1 Billion in earnings to the people of the Mekran coast. To help the Ittefaq foundry keep its monopoly on steel, Nawaz Sharif imposed strict tariffs on the ship breaking industry, while expropriating the Pakistan Railway for free transportation of imported steel to Ittefaq Foundry. These acts of Nawaz Sharif destroyed the largest ship breaking industry in the world. The ships were sold at scrap value and provided valuable engines and repair material to an entire industry in Pakistan. The Gidani beach provided steel to the Pakistan Steel Mills as very low cost.The House of Ittefaq, the industrial conglomerate of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family, is not unity anymore and 119 offspring’s siblings and spouses of the seven founding brothers are currently battling in courts for the division of the assets of the Ittefaq group. As soon as Nawaz Sharif became Prime Minister in 1990, Mian Mohammad Sharif switched over to setting up projects independent of the other partners, thus laying the grounds for split. According to agreement reached in Lahore High Court by members of the family sometime in 1996, the House of Ittefaq split in two groups. The first comprised the families of Mian Mohammad Sharif, Mohammad Shafi, Barkat Ali, Yousaf Aziz and Idrees Bashir while the second group comprised the families of Meraj Din and Siraj Din. Members of the Ittefaq group are currently operating in three groups namely Sharif Group, Ittefaq Group and Haseeb Waqas Group. The three groups have only four companies listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE).
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif left the country along with 18 other family members in December, 2000, after striking a deal with the military government. Mian Muhammad Sharif, father of Pakistan’s ex-Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, died in October 2000. Mian Sharif, a respected politician and noted industrialist of Pakistan, was in exile in Saudi Arabia along with his family after an agreement in 2000 with the Pakistan government.The Sharif family is the most influential family in the Punjab province, especially in the urban areas. The Sharif family is moving into third-generation politics. By grooming their sons, the Sharifs are perpetuating a political tradition that allows a few families to maintain a hold over national politics. The PML (N) continued to be led by the Sharif family, despite their exile in Saudi Arabia and the Saudis’ restrictions on their political activities, that effectively cut them out of the 2002 elections.In August 2008 the reopening by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of the corruption cases about Hudaibiya Paper Mills, Ittefaq Foundry and Raiwind assets meant that the entire Sharif family was in the dock. There are three cases against the Sharif brothers and their families, which do not fall under the ambit of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), as all these were established after 1999. The cases were registered in 2000. Nine persons were nominated in the Hudaibia paper mills case. They are late Mian Muhammad Sharif, Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, widow of Mian Muhammad Sharif, Mian Abbas Sharif, Hussain Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz, Shamim Akhtar, Sabiha Abbas wife of Mian Abbas Sharif and Mariam Safdar. In the case of Hudabiya Sugar Mills, the charge is of money laundering to the tune of over Rs600 million whereas in the case against Ittefaq Foundry, the directors are accused of bank loans default involving a total sum of Rs1.6 billion.